LIFE BREATHED IN
20/11/24 13:58
Not a few assert that they get their news from social media. Social media reveals that there are people who distort the truth, hate truth, people who ignore truth, those who deny the truth and people who will not come to terms with the truth. Because, if they did they would have to give up the bubble of delusion that is ‘their truth.’ By embracing truth as the Christ He is, we are able to come to terms with the fact that, some of the ideas we have held are wrong or even that beliefs we have lived from most of our lives are largely ‘misguided views of the Gospel.
A passion for truth is a personal asset because Truth is Life. Truth alive is Jesus Christ. You alive in Christ is Christ your life.
POST CROSS LIFE
The new covenant is our post cross life in the Spirit of Sonship. The old covenant was obey and live – a figment of the law and the knowledge of good and evil named by Paul as the law of sin and death.
The law has no power to include or transform – quite the opposite. The new covenant is that ‘I have included you in Me so that you will be alive as Representatives of My Kingdom.’ The new covenant is union with God, the results of which are the fruits of the Spirit and people who are not dead in their sins but alive with spirit and life. The guarantee of the new covenant is Christ and you in Him.
Jesus is the New Covenant. The new covenant is a guarantee. It certified that you are in Christ and as such included in God – the holy communion of the Trinity. This is to say that because Christ is both man and God, in Christ you are in God. We are one with God in Jesus.
LIVING IN THE BITS OR THE WHOLE
We can have a religious life that may have flecks of spirituality or none at all. Religion is not spirituality because religion is externality. Paul covered it all when he said, ‘Circumcision is of the heart’ (Romans 8.29). Jesus was more precise when he urged that the flesh (externality) means nothing to the Kingdom of God. What counts is the union of our being with God Himself. The result is spirit and life as you.
Spirit and life is God woven into our being in Jesus – not a work but a gift that is already ours. Our part is to agree.
Richard Rohr likens spirituality to ‘breathing in.’ This recalls God breathing life into our being at creation. We are not really alive in our bodily life until we are living in Christ’s spirit and life. The most powerful gospel songs and hymns have the words, ‘Breathe on me breath of God.’
RE-BREATHED
We have been re-breathed in the resurrected Jesus. Jesus breathed new life into the human race when He breathed on the disciples. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
We can live in this reality. We are incarnated with the presence of God. Nevertheless, we can ask for specific anointings since God is a person and not just a presence. ‘Jesus looked toward heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you’ John 17.1 NIV.
Jesus will glorify us to be our best selves, alive with grace and spirit and He will fortify us to meet any challenge of life with power from heaven.
THE BREATH OF LIFE
Henri Nouwen writes of this breath of life in these words. “Spirit” means “breath.” It comes from the ancient Greek word pneuma. “I want you to have my breathing. I want you to have that most intimate part of me so that the relationship that is between you and God is the same as between me and God, which is a divine relationship.” What you need to hear with your heart is that you are invited to dwell in the family of God. You are invited to be part of that intimate communion right now. The spiritual life means you are part of the family of God.”
We can live reasonable lives in the externalities of religion and law. But not because of these entities. Jesus lives in us and is who He is despite crooked views of Him. Nevertheless grace and truth is more life-giving than grace alone.
Excerpt From: Henri J. M. Nouwen. “Following Jesus.” Apple Books.
